


Don't Look Back

by kaguya2pt0



Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25425541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaguya2pt0/pseuds/kaguya2pt0
Summary: Ten years post-canon. Human society has turned against robots, and Roll, Dr. Light's only surviving creation, faces a bleak future. But her fate may change when Dr. Wily, armed with a time portal, offers her the chance to undo his final and cruelest mistake.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story takes place in a different continuity than most of my other fics: game universe, with a touch of Ariga. To be honest the idea for this fic came to me suddenly, and I'm still not sure exactly where it's going to lead. If you don't mind that, then knock yourself out. xx_

* * *

_June 9th, 20XX_

"Duo, come in… Can you hear me? This is Roll, and I need your help… Answer me, please…"

There's nothing but static on the other end of the line. I press the headphones hard against my ears, waiting for some kind of message or pattern to emerge. It doesn't. It never has.

"Duo, come in. This is Roll, and I need your help… It's urgent..."

Maybe the Stardroids defeated him at last. Maybe he sacrificed himself in a battle against the Evil Energy. Or maybe he fulfilled his life's purpose and put himself to rest.

"...Duo!"

Maybe I really am completely, utterly alone.

* * *

A little blip at the beginning of my hospital visit today: when I got to room 143, I walked in on an unfamiliar old woman tottering back to her bed, dragging her IV drip with her. She smiled and said, "who might you be?" For just a moment I thought this meant that Dr. Light had miraculously woken up and was being discharged. My mouth dropped open and my heart leapt. Then a nurse leaned in and said in a hushed tone, "they've moved him over to 148, sweetie."

Room 148 doesn't have a window. Last week, the doctors told me they no longer expected him to come out of his coma. So of course they'd move him here. He doesn't need a window, now or ever again.

Privately I seethed at the loss of the window. After all, Dr. Light might have understood, and enjoyed, my descriptions of the goings-on in the courtyard garden outside. Like the sparrows bathing themselves in the puddles after it rained. How the hydrangeas were growing, now big balls of white, pink, and blue. "They look good enough to eat," I declared yesterday. I thought he'd like that. Hydrangeas always used to remind him of cotton candy. Window or no window, I'd keep on telling him about the view, even if I had to make it up. But I resented having to make it up. My imagination was already stretched to its outer limits as it was.

"No Rock this time, either?" Ms. Saito, the daytime nurse, said. When I came in, she was checking Dr. Light's vitals. She didn't seem particularly alarmed, or encouraged, by the numbers on the screen.

"I came by myself," I said. A non-answer, but technically the truth.

"That's a shame," said Ms. Saito, frowning. She stared down at her file, and flipped through the pages as if trying to look preoccupied by what was in them. I kept watching her, wondering if her eyes would ever meet mine. They didn't. "We'd all like to see more of him before… you know…"

I nodded. "I know."

_See more of him? If he were here, you wouldn't be able to look at him, either._

I'd already had enough of Ms. Saito's feigned sympathy for one day. I wished she'd stop talking and leave. Fortunately, that's what she did. Perhaps it was because she'd made herself uncomfortable referring to "you know." Excusing herself, she left the room and closed the door behind her, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was getting hard to keep up the polite facade.

"Good morning, Dr. Light," I said.

He didn't answer. But even if he didn't open his eyes, or say anything, I felt his presence reaching out to me from beneath the mound of white sheets. He was listening. I sat down on the bed and held his hand.

The T.V. was dark and silent, just like yesterday. Good. I wasn't fond of Ms. Saito, but at least she'd had the decency and the sense not to let Dr. Light hear the recent newscasts.

"The clouds are doing interesting things today," I said. "Just now, I see one that looks like a bear trying to catch a fish. Remember when you first taught us to look for shapes in clouds? And we'd lie on our backs in the grass for hours and hours…"

I stopped myself. Did people beat around the bush like this when they had exciting news to share? No. Better get to the point.

"You're wondering where Rock has been, aren't you? Well, he and I have been so busy these past two days that we thought he should stay home to take care of things. You see, something wonderful has happened. I didn't mention it to Ms. Saito just now, because I wanted you to be the first to hear it." I took a deep breath. _Please, let me get this right._ If my delivery was off, or if the details didn't add up, my story wouldn't have the effect I intended. "Your final appeal… it went through! It was _so_ close. You see, it's June 9th today, and the 15th, remember, was the day Rock had been scheduled to be… Well, what I'm saying is, Rock went to talk with Mr. Shikanai about the decision yesterday. And it's even better than you'd expected, Dr. Light. Not only did the judge postpone our expiration dates, he postponed them _indefinitely_."

I forced a grin, hoping it would come through somehow in my voice. "We've been designated _important cultural artifacts_. Not the legal personhood you were aiming for... but Mr. Shikanai thinks we can try again… in five or ten years, maybe, when people are more accepting… But the point is that we're safe, thanks to you. You fought so hard for us."

_Now let me fight for you. I'll make sure you won't have to die knowing that you failed._

If Dr. Light was experiencing any relief, or joy, I couldn't detect it in his face. His chest continued to rise and fall at the same pace, and there was no change in the rhythm of beeps coming from the vital signs monitor. But those things didn't deter me.

"And that isn't all. You're not going to believe this, but… Blues is alive! Duo discovered his body during a mission, orbiting Jupiter... found that he was still functional... and brought him back this morning. He doesn't remember fighting the Stardroids, or how he lost his helmet… and he's going to need a lot of repairs... but he's going to make it. Rock is looking after him. So of course you can understand why he wasn't able to come with me today.

"Isn't it amazing that all these things have happened within the past two days? It seems almost too good to be true..."

Perhaps I was pushing my luck. But Dr. Light's face showed no sign of being skeptical, and I was free to interpret his blank and peaceful expression however I wanted.

Now I had run out of lies and couldn't think of anything more to say. Tomorrow I would have to invent another happy alibi to explain Rock's absence, and in a couple of weeks I'd have to find a way to preemptively explain my absence, but my work for today was done.

I was exhausted. I had just created a world for Dr. Light, that good world which he'd refused to lose faith in. The world in which his life's work made sense. It was heavy on my shoulders. I wanted to let go of it all, to be taken care of, to be the child I was supposed to be. I climbed onto the bed next to Dr. Light, wriggled under the tube of his oxygen mask, and nestled myself between his warm body and the crook of his arm. It was the closest thing to an embrace from my creator I could ever hope for again. I closed my eyes and sighed. The steady beeping of his heart rate was like a lullaby. If it weren't for the doctors and nurses chattering in the hall on the other side of the door, I could almost have imagined that we were at home and that he was cradling me in his arms and singing me to sleep.

"I miss you," I whispered, "so much…"

I let my sadness press down on me. There was no need to try to catch my tears before they rolled down my face and onto his arm. Even if all the happy untruths I'd told him today had been true, I would still be here now, crying, because I loved him and didn't want him to die, and he knew it.

How strange that the status report in the upper corner of my internal interface said that I was fine. But of course it didn't account for feelings, or for threats looming ahead in the future. And it had no idea that at the end of the month, or when Dr. Light died, whichever came first, someone was going to come to shut me down and take my body to the recycling center. Like each of Dr. Light's industrial robots when their time had come, like Rush, Eddie, Rightott, and Tango last winter. Like what would have happened to Rock on June 15th, if he hadn't vanished without a trace.

I stared up at the ceiling for a long time, moving only to wipe my face with my hands. I was painfully aware of the seconds, minutes, and hours ticking by. If only I could hold very still, perhaps they would slow down. I dared the universe to play along with this silly game of mine. Dr. Light's dream of robots and humans working together side by side as friends, a dream which once had encompassed the entire world, had dwindled to the two of us in this windowless little room. Unless Time itself intervened, it would soon be gone.

There was one hope, one last, dim, far-flung hope… but for me, thirty years was an impossibly long way away.

* * *

Recently I overheard Dr. Light's physician saying that it was stress which had probably caused his stroke. Specifically, the stress resulting from his stubborn fight to keep Rock and me alive. He said it with the same kind of disapproving tone that a doctor might use to complain about a patient's smoking or drinking habits. It wasn't meant for my ears, but it hurt nonetheless.

It hurt, and it was true. The long days spent testifying in court, the drudgery and humiliation of filing appeal after appeal, the endless meetings with lawyers and advisors, and his own painstaking private search for a lawful way to preserve us, any way, had been more than Dr. Light's aging mind and body could endure.

The prelude to his collapse which put him here began last summer, when his most recent industrial robots had been put out of commission after only five years of service. He was the angriest I've seen him in years. No longer could he kowtow to clients' demands for the newest and most cost-efficient models at the expense of the tried-and-true, or the government's insistence on keeping his creations' lifespans short. If that was how his self-aware inventions were to be treated, he told the press, then the world would have to get by without them, and he closed Light Labs for good. That was when I noticed his bloodshot eyes, and a tremor in his hands which hadn't been there before.

Then the expiration dates of Rush, Eddie, Rightott, and Tango drew near, and we learned ours were to follow a few months later, and Dr. Light's bitterness took on a wild, desperate flavor. His legal offensive began in earnest… He stopped sleeping...

I'm ashamed to admit that Rock and I made his work even more difficult for him than it had to be. We had priorities of our own, which sometimes were at odds with his. Like when he found us in the woods on a cold afternoon last December, begging Rush to run away.

Although we heard him coming, I was still startled by the snap of his walking cane as he flung it to the ground, and then by the force in his hands when he grabbed us each by one arm, with all his strength, as if he were pulling us back from the edge of a cliff.

"Children! What in hell are you doing?"

We knew what we had been doing. But now that we'd been caught, we were speechless. Nothing we could say would manage to convince our creator that we had been in the right. We hadn't even thought about how Rush could survive on his own, or what sort of consequence we might face for freeing him. It had been an impulsive, last-ditch act.

"You were trying to save him?" Dr. Light said. "Well, I'm trying to save _you_. He's not worth risking your lives for. Come back, Rush."

Rush, crouching in the snow twenty meters ahead with his knees bent and his tail down, shifted his eyes from Rock to Dr. Light, then back to Rock again, unable to decide whose command he was supposed to follow.

"Won't you call him, Rock?" Dr. Light said.

"I don't want him to come back," Rock said. "Don't ask me to do it. Please."

Dr. Light, with shame in his eyes, nodded and ambled ahead. "Rush!"

Rush jumped away. His confusion had disappeared, and he now seemed to think this was some kind of game. Dr. Light huffed after him, but soon returned defeated, and looked again pleadingly at my brother.

Rock bowed his head and gritted his teeth. His right hand was still clutching the stone that he would have thrown at Rush if words and gestures alone hadn't been enough to get him to leave. I wondered how far his rebellion was going to go. Then Dr. Light put a firm hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"Call him, son. I am... _ordering_ you."

I let out a gasp. Rock closed his eyes, bracing himself for the moment when his will would be thwarted by the second law. In the next instant an invisible force pried his fingers open, and the stone fell to the ground with an earthy thud.

"Come back, Rush," he said in a low monotone. It was his voice, yet different, lifeless, like air being forced through a bellows. It was awful.

On tentative feet Rush crept back to my brother's side, sat down, and nuzzled at his hand. Rock turned away and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. He was shaking with anger.

"Dr. Light," I said, "you just gave him a command." I let the surprise in my voice serve as a reproach. Dr. Light long ago had promised never to subject us to the second law, and until that day he never had.

"Do you think I wanted to do it?" Dr. Light said. "I had no choice. What do you think would happen if the recycling center came tomorrow and found that Rush was gone?" He glared at me with a guilty, persecuted look. "Don't you want to live? Don't you, Rock?"

I wanted to live, and I reluctantly nodded. But my brother, with his gaze fixed stubbornly down on poor, doomed Rush, didn't answer for a long time. Dr. Light grew increasingly impatient. He drew in closer, cradled Rock's face in his hands, and pored over him with wide, alarmed eyes. Rock returned his gaze but still did not answer.

"Come on, son. Won't you say you want to live?"

I didn't think that Rock really wanted to die. But neither of us knew how to live in a world which no longer wanted us. And for Rock, the steep drop from beloved hero to persona non grata had been especially painful.

"Can't you see past your programming for once? You're _worth_ something, all by yourself," Dr. Light said, and shook Rock by the shoulders. "Even if you're not helping anyone. Even if it's others who are being sacrificed for you. You're still _worth_ something. It's what I've been trying to teach you all these years."

And then he shook me, too. He looked back at Rock, then at me, and then at Rock again, who had kept resolutely silent. He let out an exasperated groan.

"We're going to do this by the book," he said. He pressed his lips together as he gingerly picked up his walking cane. "The law says Rush has got to be decommissioned. You cannot disobey. If you do, then what chance will _you_ have? You have no _rights_."

That last word came out like a broken gasp. It was as if Dr. Light had only then realized what an absurd situation we were in. Rock had saved the world, but one little act of defiance was all it would take to forfeit its goodwill. That word, and the crack in his voice as he said it, was an indictment of his entire life, a confession that if he'd had any foresight, any awareness, any compassion, he never would have created us. To be worth something, but to have no rights, was the terrible lot he'd imposed on the people he loved.

Dr. Light's heart broke that day. I know that now. I wish that Rock and I had noticed it in his slow and heavy gait as the three of us led Rush home. And if we had noticed it as we should have, and if we'd had a little foresight and compassion, then we would have let him know we didn't blame him for the fact that Rush was about to die. And I'm certain it would have made a difference to him if we'd told him how grateful we were for how hard he was working to save us. Enough of a difference, maybe, that what happened to him a few hours later might not have happened.

No, scratch that. Rock was beside himself with grief, and could not have managed all those things just then. But I… I was calm and alert, I was rational, I had my wits about me.

I should have done something.

That evening, Rock led Rush into the lab and decommissioned him himself. Then he ran outside into the garden and screamed at the night. Dr. Light followed after him, and when he reached the sliding door he seemed to stumble. He grabbed at the curtains and the whole rod came down. The next second he was on his back, rubbing at his head and howling in pain.

He recovered from his first stroke, but it wouldn't be his last.

* * *

Someone was shaking me gently by the arm.

"Roll," said a woman's voice. "Visiting hours are closed."

I opened my eyes. It was Ms. Wada, the nighttime nurse, giving me her usual knowing wink.

I gasped. Night already? With no sunlight moving across room 148 to impress on me how long I'd been there, I had lost all track of time.

After the judge's decision had been made public, Ms. Wada, unlike Ms. Saito, had continued to look at me directly, even though it seemed like a painful thing for her to do. I had used her pity to my advantage, and we had come to an agreement. She would turn a blind eye if I stayed until morning, as long as I ducked under the bed when the physician came in at his usual time.

But tonight I couldn't stay, even though I wanted to. I'd fulfilled my duty to Dr. Light, but there was someone else who needed me. I grabbed my things and ran out the door.

Two days ago Rock had vanished without a trace, and I still didn't know how to feel about it. Elated that he wasn't going to be destroyed on June 15th? Anxious that he was in trouble? Disappointed that he had run away and left me behind? Hopeful that he was working on a plan to save us? I needed answers, and I wasn't going to get them here.

* * *

The light to the lab was already on when I came home. I saw it from the road and started running and shouting Rock's name. I flung myself through the door, through the house, and down the basement stairs. At the bottom rung I looked up, shrieked, and fell backward.

In the middle of the room a massive robot, decked out in blue and red armor, his head nearly grazing the ceiling, was standing arms akimbo. He turned to me and smiled.

"You called, didn't you?" he said.

It was Duo.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's a lucky thing that I picked up your distress signal, Roll," Duo said. "You see, I received it just as I happened to be traveling through the Kuiper Belt en route to the wormhole that leads to… I believe you call it Messier 81?" The inside of my head tickled a bit as Duo's mind leafed gently through my database of pre-installed but seldom-used vocabulary.

"Um, right," I said, rubbing at my temples. "Messier 81, the galaxy?"

"Terrible things are afoot there. Without my aid, the entire galaxy will be overrun with Evil Energy. In fact, I dared to look at it with my own eyes just before I entered your solar system. It was a horrifying sight, like a blob of ink spreading through water. I shudder to imagine what another 11.74 million years have done.

"But since, happily, I _did_ receive your message, and I was in the area already, I couldn't say no to the chance to be of assistance to my friends on Earth, even if my visit must be brief. I only hope I'm not too late to help you. How long have you been trying to reach me?"

"About seven months," I said.

"I see." He hung his head dolefully. "The battle has already concluded, I take it?"

"There was no battle. There hasn't been anything like that around here in a long time. Dr. Wily's reformed, and Rock doesn't fight anymore."

"Then what could be the problem?"

I drew back from the overenthusiastic embrace I'd planted around Duo's left leg. His talk of millions of years and the fates of entire galaxies had left my own problems feeling small in comparison. But the way he looked expectantly down at me, head cocked a little to one side, was reassuring. He owed a debt of gratitude to Dr. Light for repairing him years ago, and seemed eager to repay it. I was equally eager to give him the opportunity.

"Well, when I first tried to call you, Rock and I had just learned that we were to be destroyed."

"But why, Roll? You haven't done something wrong since we last met, have you?"  
"No, we haven't. But some other robots caused a lot of trouble."

"What would other robots causing trouble have to do with you?"

"I suppose that, since we're robots too, people are afraid we might also cause trouble someday."

"A peculiar way of thinking," said Duo. "Very worrisome. May I?" He pressed a big, firm hand against my forehead, and I didn't object. Again the inside of my head tickled, and this time my memory bank was opened, and recollections old and new were poured over, some of which I'd never expected to share with anyone else. For a moment I thought of asking Duo to stop. But increasingly I became aware not only of being seen from the inside out, but of being judged favorably. My discomfort faded away and was replaced by a great sense of relief, as if I'd just confided a lifetime's worth of pent-up feelings to someone I could trust completely.

"It's an abomination! A grave miscarriage of justice!" Duo stomped his foot, and the whole floor quaked beneath us. "All your life, you have consistently and tirelessly worked for the good. Roll, you must take me to these people who wish to destroy you. They need to know that a great punishment awaits them if they do it."

"Punishment?" I said, taking a tentative step back. "You mean you're going to hurt them?"

"Not I," said Duo. "I'm not allowed to harm organic creatures. But the universe has a way of repaying us for our deeds. Now, where are these evil-doers? Perhaps they can be persuaded..."

"Thanks, Duo, but that isn't why I called you." Without thinking I'd lifted up my hands, as if I, a fraction of his size, was going to try to physically stop him. Although his righteous anger was vindicating, I knew no human in this day and age would take well to being given a talking-to by a giant war-bot from space. I foresaw what would happen next: the military chasing him off of Earth, and an immediate trip to the recycling center for me. "I called because I wanted you to take Rock away with you. I don't need you to fight or persuade anyone. Just get Rock out of here… save him…"

I looked down at the floor, suddenly unable to speak. Duo's kind eyes were on me, peering in, seeing the thoughts that were too painful for me to put into words.

"You've lost hope that this world can change for the better."

"Yes."

"You feel like a failure because you haven't been able to to protect the people you love."

"You can say that again."

"Dr. Light fought to keep you alive, and it broke him. He's in the hospital now, dying, and you feel responsible."

I nodded.

"And if Rock dies next week, it will be the worst thing that's ever happened to you."

I raised my head. "Don't let it happen, Duo! It's too unfair. After all he's done for us, me, everybody… to see him treated like that… I couldn't stand it."

"The place I'm going is full of danger," Duo said, "and I won't take Rock somewhere he doesn't want to go. But if he's willing, I'll do it. Of course, I don't think he'd want to leave you here alone. Wouldn't you come with us, Roll?"

"I'd prefer to stay and take care of Dr. Light until the end," I said. "But if Rock refused to go without me, I'd go too."

"All right. Shall I speak with Rock now? Where is he?"

"...I don't know. I haven't seen him for two days."

Duo gave me a surprised look. Somehow, he'd missed that important detail when he'd peered into my thoughts. Slowly, he knelt down and put a hand on my shoulder. His eyes searched mine, and he nodded.

"Then tell me what you do know."

"Two days ago, Dr. Light's appeal to keep us alive was turned down. After we heard the news, Rock said he was going to go for a walk to clear his head. He likes to be alone whenever he's in a dark mood, so I didn't think much about it. I saw him go down the gravel road in front of our house and into the woods, and he never came back.

"Can you find him, Duo? Isn't there anything you can do?"

"Of course," Duo said, and smiled a little. "I scanned him once. His life force shines brightly. It's impossible to miss. If he's alive on this planet, I'll find him."

He closed his eyes and became still and solemn. I drew closer, and for what seemed like an eternity kept my sight locked on his face, searching in vain for any information his expression might reveal before he was able to say it out loud.

"I'm too late," Duo said at last, and his face went dark. "If only I'd arrived two days ago…"

"What do you mean, Duo?"

"I can see his final movements. On the night of June 7th he traveled southward toward the ocean. He stopped there, faded, and then went out."

_Life force, shines brightly, faded, went out_. These weren't terms I was used to hearing, and I didn't know what to make of them. "No." I shook my head. "Rock's asleep, or in shutdown mode somewhere. Maybe, if you look again…"

"Your brother is gone."

"You're not saying he's dead?"

"He's no longer in this world."

I shook my head again, harder this time. "I don't understand. It doesn't make any sense."

"I wish I'd been able to give you better news." Duo let out a deep sigh. "This is a great tragedy. He was a powerful force for good on this planet."

_Was_. Past tense. For a long while I didn't answer. I found myself staring at the floor, tracing the lines with my eyes across the checkerboard linoleum. "It doesn't make any sense," I said again, absentmindedly. But the sight of Rock's Yomiuri Giants jersey draped forlornly over the back of Dr. Light's desk chair jolted me back to life.

"You said he went toward the ocean? But what happened to him there, Duo? Give me the specifics."

"I've told you everything I know."

Reality was getting its talons into me. My fingers, as if of their own accord, went up to my hair, ran through it, and pulled. I started pacing back and forth.

"Rock's really dead? _Really_?"

How much had I worried about my brother during his Rockman days, when I was painfully aware each time he said goodbye that he might be returned to me and Dr. Light in bits and pieces? Or more recently in these last few months, when I'd felt his expiration date hovering over my neck like a guillotine's blade. And now the event I'd dreaded so much had already come to pass, and when it had happened I hadn't even noticed.

"What's wrong with me?" I said, to myself as much as to Duo. "What on earth have I been doing these past two days? The night he didn't come home, I should have been out there searching for him!

"Why'd I let him go, Duo? Well, I thought he'd come back… he's been in tight spots before and always come back… But why didn't I suspect it would be different this time? I've always fretted over him. Why not now? Why'd I let my guard down? I know why. Because Dr. Light is dying. It's too much to take in at once… Rightott, Tango, Rush, all my friends, already gone… It's too much...

"And to be honest, I…" I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my lips together. "I felt _relieved_ when he went out for that walk. When we heard the judge's decision, Rock was angry that he wouldn't be able to protect me. Screaming, throwing pottery shards at the wall out in the garden… It was hard for me to see him in so much pain. When I didn't have to see it for a while, I… _Finally, some peace_ , I thought… I _thought_ it was going to be only a few hours... If I'd known he wouldn't come back, I…"

My thoughts became incoherent as my words. Duo looked down at me pityingly. His internal hydraulics hummed as he gently lowered himself to a sitting position on the floor.

"Two days," he said sadly, "can make a world of difference to mortal creatures."

He held out one hand to me, inviting. And then, while the fate of Messier 81 hung in the balance, he, ancient Duo, wise Duo, sat beside me and patiently accepted the blows of my little fists on his chest, my shrieks of rage, my tears, and my childish demand for a never-ending embrace.

* * *

I don't know how long my fit went on. I only know that when it was over, and I had released Duo from his obligation to help me, as there was no longer anything he could do to help, we had gone outside, and the moon was high in the sky. Jupiter and Saturn had already risen over the tops of the trees.

"You said that the universe repays us for our deeds. But is there really justice in the universe, Duo?" I said. "It seems to me that things happen by random chance, and they aren't _just_ at all. Like Dr. Light and Rock having to die, while Dr. Wily lives on in freedom and comfort."

"You see only one part of the picture, one little sliver of time, but there's a lot more. If that gives you any peace of mind you're welcome to believe it."

I looked down, kicking distractedly at the grass. Perhaps Duo's words would give me some peace of mind later, but for now they were no consolation.

"Roll, I must be going, but I'm loath to leave you behind. I think you could be a help to me on my mission to rescue Messier 81, although it would mean risking your life. If you prefer that to the certain death that awaits you here, I'll take you with me. Just say the word and we'll be off."

I looked up at the cold and distant stars, and let out a trembling sigh. "Are there many civilizations in Messier 81?"

"A great many, of all sorts."

"What's it like traveling through a wormhole?"

"Thrilling, and a bit tingly."

Until now I hadn't given more than a cursory thought to my own end, officially scheduled for twenty days in the future. Why wouldn't I choose to escape it, if I could? When I'd shut down Rightott before he was taken away to be destroyed, I'd envied him. His sense of self was weak and he couldn't feel fear. "So, this is it, then?" he said, and gave Rock and me an enthusiastic handshake before climbing onto the table. "It's been a pleasure, you two. A genuine pleasure." No inclination that he was being wronged. If only Dr. Light could have made me like _that_ , I'd thought, instead of this terrified, resentful mess.

I dreaded my expiration date. I dreaded the knock at the door I knew would come. With no family left to shut me down, I'd have to put my hope in the mercy of total strangers. Would they care enough to try to make me comfortable in my last conscious moments? Would they talk about me as if I wasn't there? Would they throw my body in the back of their truck like a sack full of junk, like they'd done with Rightott? And then the worst part would come, the dismantling of all my thoughts and memories and feelings, of my hands with which I'd done my work and my arms with which I'd embraced the people I'd loved. The thought of it made me want to scream.

Of course I'd choose to escape it, if I could. But if I went with Duo tonight, I'd be forever haunted by the work I'd left unfinished. It was already bad enough imagining Dr. Light spending his last days of life completely alone. It would be unbearable to never know what had happened to Rock. If I stayed here, assuming Dr. Light outlived me, I'd have almost three weeks to find out. I was willing to die for that chance.

"I can't go with you. I _won't_." I wiped the tears forming at the corners of my eyes.

Duo gave me a hard look. "Are you sure, Roll? Once I leave this planet, it will be a long time before I'll be able to return, if I ever return at all. By then it will be too late for you."

"Yes, I'm sure," I said, and made an effort to stand straight and tall. "I'm needed here."

Solemnly, Duo nodded. "I admire your courage. In that case, we won't meet again. Please give my regards to Dr. Light." He took a few slow steps back, and gave me a deep bow.

"Godspeed, Duo."

Seen through watery eyes, the rocket thrusters in the bottoms of Duo's feet were like two blurry suns. Soon he shrank to a pinpoint of orange in the sky and was gone, and I stood there on the gravel drive with nothing but the chattering frogs and crickets to keep me company.

This nocturnal calm was hateful to me now. I didn't want to go back to that silent, empty house. When finally I dragged myself inside I wandered the hall like a ghost, not knowing what to do with myself. But when I passed by the door to the basement, I caught another glimpse of Rock's Giants jersey. I hurried down the stairs and scooped it up in my hands. It had been lying forgotten on the back of Dr. Light's chair since spring at least, one little item among many which my brother and I hadn't bothered in recent months to tidy up. Cleaning had fallen by the wayside when Dr. Light's coma had come to consume our lives.

I pulled the jersey over my head. I wanted to feel my brother's presence beside me, even just a little. It had once been his favorite article of clothing, a gift from the owner of the Yomiuri Giants himself when Rock had been invited to throw the first pitch at the national championship finals many years ago. Rock had loved it and worn it until the seams had started to come apart.

Once again my grief overwhelmed me, and I sank into the chair and let out a rageful howl. But I couldn't allow myself to stay this way. I closed my eyes and shook my head. _Stop. Stop this. You have work to do._ I wrapped my fingers around the seam of Rock's jersey, pulled it up to my face, dried my eyes with it.

_I'm going to find out what happened to you. I promise._

Clues. I needed clues. I got up, climbed the stairs, and went into Rock's bedroom. It was the obvious place to start.

The floor looked like ground zero of a comic book shop explosion, with a rough foot-swept path to the futon which had not left the same spot on the tatami for weeks or months. If I lifted it, I'd probably find mold and mites underneath. The mess was a microcosm of the rest of the house, the image of a once orderly and peaceful life in the process of being unraveled. It had been a long time since I'd noticed the entropy creeping in, or cared.

But there on top of the futon, screen facing up, was Rock's phone. The night he'd left for his walk and hadn't returned I'd called it and been surprised to hear it ringing from his room. I picked it up and unlocked it. The password had been "gogiants" for far too long.

That was when I saw the message, dated June 7th, sent from an address I didn't recognize:

"I heard the news this evening. Tough break. I have a deal for you if you're interested. Your sister's safety, in exchange for the final week of your life. Let's talk details at my place. Your Uncle Al."

Rock's reply followed:

"On my way."

"You've got to be kidding me." Dr Wily? _Now?_ What more could he have to prove, with Light Labs defunct, his old rival on his deathbed, and Dr. Light's creations heading to the scrap heap? Of course, I'd never believed Dr. Wily's line about turning over a new leaf had been anything other than a ruse to allow him to spend his remaining years out of prison. But since his release he had indeed left my family alone, and that had been good enough for me. I couldn't fathom why he'd want to harm Rock. That part, rationally, didn't compute. But the way I felt about it was crystal clear.

_I'll kill him. I'll kill that horrible old geezer._

I dropped the phone into my pocket and bolted out of the house. I don't think I even bothered to turn the lights off or lock the front door. Outside I made a beeline for my Vespa, shoved my helmet on, and sped away south, down from the mountains and into the city. My final destination was the housing projects in the industrial sector near the ocean, home to freeters, day laborers, pensioners, and a certain disgraced and hard up Albert Wily. Little by little the brilliant night sky, among which Messier 81 was visible as a pinprick of yellow, was engulfed by the lights of the refineries. By the time I reached Dr. Wily's door, I could see no more stars.


	3. Chapter 3

_February 27th, 20XX, Tokyo Municipal 9th District Court_

Judge Kanda: It would be helpful if you could answer Mr. Furukawa's question, Doctor.

Light: Fine. The answer is no, Mr. Furukawa. My children's code is not corruptible. It's ridiculous that you'd use some claim my ex-colleague made a decade ago as evidence... (snorts) He hasn't been in his right mind for a long time and you know it.

Furukawa: Still, as the saying goes, a stopped clock is right twice a day. Dr. Wily was correct about your industrial robots being corruptible, after all.

Light: It's a different source code. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Furukawa: But the two of you worked _together_ to develop that very source code.

Light: You keep trying to argue that my children are a safety liability. It's nothing but fear-based nonsense.

Furukawa: After the horror that we lived through years ago, it wouldn't be unwise to be afraid.

Light: That horror has passed thanks to my son whom you want to kill.

Furukawa: And thanks to the stringent rules imposed by the regulatory board, which have since ensured that disasters like those will never happen again.

Light: There isn't one shred of proof that destroying properly working robots keeps anyone safe.

Furukawa: A decade of peace is proof enough for most people. Judge, the plaintiff has been pleading for an exception on the basis of DRN-001 and DRN-002 being highly advanced, special… But as I have argued it would be deeply irresponsible to make exceptions. If they are vulnerable to hacking just as any other robot, they must comply with the same rules and their expiration dates must not be postponed. I would now like to call my next witness, Dr. Albert Wily.

Light: What on earth? Al? Is that really you?

Wily: Long time no see, Tom. I only wish we were meeting again under happier circumstances.

Light: What are you doing here? Whose side are you on?

Wily: The same side as always, Tom. My side.

Judge Kanda: Gentlemen, save the chit chat for later.

Furukawa: Thank you for coming today in spite of your frail condition, Dr. Wily. Ten years ago you claimed that the source code of DRN-001 and DRN-002 is corruptible. As the co-creator of that code, what is your professional opinion now?

Wily: It most certainly is corruptible. I know that for a fact. I've known it for a long time.

Light: That's a lie!

Judge Kanda: Dr. Light, I'm losing my patience with you. Go ahead, Mr. Furukawa.

Furukawa: You sound quite confident in your opinion, Dr. Wily. What makes you so sure of yourself?

Wily: (shrugs) Because I've cracked it. In here. (points to own head) It's a puzzle that's vexed me for ages, you know. But in prison, it became something of an obsession. I hand-wrote bits and pieces of it on every scrap of paper I could find. Pondered over them every day for hours. I was _compelled_ to figure it out. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but just before my release I realized I'd done it, just like I had known I would.

Light: So what? Perhaps you only think you've cracked it.

Judge Kanda: Gentlemen!

Wily: No. It's true that in this timeline, I have yet to put my calculations to the test. I don't want to test them. But if the opportunity arose, I might not be able to stop myself. So you'd better order Rock to stay away from me. Use the second law. Do it today for his sake and especially mine, would you?

Light: What the hell is this, Albert? Some kind of a threat?

Judge Kanda: One more outburst from you, Dr. Light, and I'll throw you out of this courtroom and your appeal along with it. And Dr. Wily, I'm not sure who you're talking to, but you're not making any sense.

Wily: No. It's a warning, old friend. Act on it while you still can. Help me break the cycle!

Judge Kanda: Mr. Ishitori, could you please escort Dr. Wily to the door? Dr. Wily, thank you for your testimony. You're finished here. Go home and get some rest.

Wily: You've got to help me, Tom! I'm trapped in a causality loop, and so's your boy. Make sure he doesn't come to visit me. You don't have much time. Call him. Do it now!

(Dr. Wily departs)

Judge Kanda: Mr. Furukawa, why on earth did you subject us to that?

Furukawa: Judge, I'm not sure what happened. He seemed perfectly sane when I spoke with him before.

Judge Kanda: (rubbing his temples) Well, let's take five.

* * *

The face I despised, half hidden in shadow, peered out at me through the crack between the aluminum door and its frame. Furtive, skulking, just like the vile creature it was attached to, one visible eye scanned me up and down and blinked once, twice. I glowered at it. Then the face disappeared once more into darkness, the door was opened wide, and there was all of Dr. Wily, liver-spotted, bent-backed, and leaning on his walker. To my surprise he was smiling at me with an odd, relieved kind of smile.

"There you are, finally," he said in a weary voice, and sighed. "I was wondering what took you so long. You have no idea what I've been through."

I had just been through quite a lot myself, and couldn't care less about the old codger's feelings. With a lunge forward I grabbed him by the collar of his bathrobe. "Where is Rock? What have you done to him?"

Dr. Wily tottered toward me with a gasp and clasped his hands tightly around his walker. "Let go, will you _?_ " he said _._ "My back is killing me."

"Why'd you do it? What's in it for you, anyway? Don't you know there's no point anymore? Dr. Light is..." I stammered. "Dr. Light is…"

"Of course I know he's dying. What kind of monster do you think I am? You think I'd kick the man when he's down? I let go of my old grudge a long time ago, along with my dreams. Can you imagine me trying to take over the world now? Me, wrangling an army of robots? No thanks. Just thinking about it makes me want to lie down and take a nap. My only ambition these days is for a nap. And maybe a bowel movement, if I'm lucky. I don't have it in for your family."

"Liar! I saw your message on Rock's phone." I thought of Duo soaring toward the Kuiper Belt wormhole without us, never to return to Earth again, and grit my teeth in anguish. "And then there was your testimony last winter when you said you were going to test your 'calculations' on him."

"You saw that also, did you? Good. I can explain everything if you'd come in. I want to help you, and perhaps you can do a little favor for me. Now _let go of me_ , for chrissakes. That's an _order_ from a human being."

"I don't have to take orders from criminals!"

"Even so, this is no time for you to be seen acting willful and difficult, is it?" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Those brutes at the regulatory agency put a tracking device on you, didn't they? One concerned phone call from a neighbor that you're menacing innocent senior citizens, and soon they'll be on your tail with their plasma rifles. What's going to happen to your truth-seeking venture then?"

Those bullying words, wielded to put Dr. Wily back in control, nevertheless contained a logic that resonated. I glanced to my right and left. Not a soul in sight, but for how much longer? With a groan, I released him. "I wouldn't say _innocent_."

Dr. Wily shrugged, straightened himself, and flashed me a smug, lopsided smile.

"Now listen. I promised Rock I'd save you, and I intend to try. But," he said, pulling his robe more firmly around himself, "you must remember that I'm old and tired and can't handle a lot of excitement. Are you going to come in, sit down, and act civilized so I can tell you what happened to your brother, or not?"

In the past I would have hesitated on the doorstep, wary of becoming an unwitting part of one or another of Dr. Wily's schemes. But having nothing left to lose had done wonders for my courage, and I hurried inside and shut the door.

Whatever vague, half-formed idea I'd envisioned of the old madman's post-prison home, this wasn't it. Dim except for the cold glow of one fluorescent kitchen ceiling light and a mini-TV mounted in a corner playing the nightly news on low volume. Nearly empty but for two ratty brown armchairs, a lamp on a fiberboard side table, and a small mountain of cardboard boxes lining one wall. The latter seemed to have long been forgotten and were in the process of slowly caving in under their own weight. The air was heavy and stale. Dr. Wily could barely walk unaided, so of course cleaning, or unpacking those boxes himself, was out of the question. Was there no one around to help him? If he died here, how long would it be before anyone noticed?

For just a moment I felt a pang from deep within my programming, an involuntary call to action. I pushed it down, and in its place nursed a deliberate and delicious schadenfreude. If Dr. Wily had lived a decent life, Rock and I would have taken care of him in his old age. He had no one but himself to blame for having to spend his last days destitute and friendless. Perhaps Duo was right. Maybe there was justice in the universe, after all.

"Well, here it is," he said. He lifted one hand palm-up and brandished it around, as if anticipating my judgment on the place. "I bet you never imagined the great Albert Wily would wind up in a dump like this, did you, kid?"

I shook my head. Indeed, I had not.

"You know, it's funny. I often get the feeling things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. Like I was meant to ride on one track, but a switch got pulled and I ended up on another. Do you ever feel the same?"

Oh, yes. A million times, yes. But I was repulsed by the idea that he and I might share anything in common, and I didn't answer.

Three things in particular about that horrible place caught my eye. The first was a faded and dog-eared hardback of _Advanced Quantum Physics_ on the side table, one of the only objects in the room not covered in a year's worth of dust. The second was the way the two armchairs faced each other, as if Dr. Wily had entertained another guest here not long ago.

The third was a hallway to my left that ended in darkness. Halfway down it, the rectangle outline of a doorframe stood out against the gloom, illuminated from the inside by a faint yellowish light. Something about that light made me shudder, although I couldn't put my finger on what it was. For a few moments I found myself unable to look away from it, until Dr. Wily's bony fingers rapping on my arm startled me back into the present.

"Here," he said, and gestured at one of the armchairs with a tremoring hand. "Get comfortable. I've got a harrowing story to tell you. _Two_ stories, in fact. But I don't often get visitors, so you're going to have to endure some small talk first. And I'm also going to need a cup of tea." Then he turned away from me and ambled toward the kitchen. I watched him go with wary eyes, feeling my grip tighten against the back of the armchair he had offered me. I now had the unshakable conviction that, two nights ago, he had offered this same chair to my brother. For the first time, I felt afraid.

I sat down, fidgeting anxiously with the seam of Rock's jersey. I told myself not to let my imagination wander, and fought a losing battle. _Where's Rock? His body, I mean? Is it here in this apartment? Down that hall? Cut it out._ _Focus. Pay attention. What's Dr. Wily doing now?_

Dr. Wily was still shuffling with his walker toward the kitchen. It seemed that pouring himself a cup of tea would take a while. Making me wait for the answers I needed was already cruel enough, but the insufferable git just had to _whistle_ as he went. He seemed positively _cheerful_. Intolerable. I yanked _Advanced Quantum Physics_ off of the side table and prepared to hurl it at him. But of course the first law kept it glued to my hand, and I stifled a frustrated scream.

Without seeming to notice, he disappeared behind a stainless steel rack shelf full of instant noodle packets and potted succulents. Then came the _click_ of an electric kettle being plugged in. "But what about you, Roll?" he said. "Need something? Maintenance? A scan? A charge?"

" _No._ "

"Still don't trust me? Not even after all these years?"

"Not a chance."

"That cheek." He chuckled. "My former self managed a good few times to pull the wool over both your brothers' eyes. But not you. Never you. By the way, why haven't you hacked that tracking device yet, clever one?"

"Second law. The judge ordered me not to."

"Thwarted so easily, eh? I bet you'd like it disabled."

I narrowed my eyes in his direction.

"I expected that. But if I know you, you'd hatch a half-decent escape plan if only it were gone. Let me disable it for you."

"Why would I let your grubby hands anywhere near me?"

"Because I want you to survive. And I'm willing to put myself through a certain amount of bother to make sure you do."

I stared in the direction of the kitchen, exasperated. Dr. Wily was dangling a proverbial carrot in front of my nose. But he had never extended an offer of "help" to any robot unless there was something he wanted in return.

"I didn't come here to talk about _me_ ," I said. "Where is Rock?"

"Not so fast," he answered, and _tsk-tsk_ ed me as his face reappeared in the doorway. " _I_ want to talk about you. You're just going to have to put up with it." With stiff half-steps he maneuvered his cup and saucer onto the side table, then lowered himself with sighs and groans into the armchair across from mine. After my impatience for him to sit down I now found myself squirming under his icy blue stare, and wished we could have continued our conversation from a distance.

"Well, at least one of us has aged well," he said, and winked at me. "Now, let me get a better look at you. It's been so long since I saw you last."

"Not nearly long enough," I said, crossing my arms.

"You know, Roll, even if you've been nothing but unpleasant toward me since you got here, I'm glad you came. Very glad. What was it I called you that time long ago, back before Tom and I had our falling out?"

"A vacuum cleaner that talks back."

Dr. Wily smirked. Clearly he still regarded himself as a great wit. "Right. Well, wouldn't you say you've grown quite a bit beyond that designation?"

"I was always beyond it."

"Perhaps you were."

His hand as he raised the teacup to his lips was shaky and feeble, but his eyes were full of restless energy. "You know, I kept up with those appeals hearings and I found them quite interesting. The morning before I testified, that scumbag Furukawa got Tom to admit under oath that you know your way around your own code now. Tried using that to make the case you're dangerous. Lived too long, got too big for your britches. But is it true?"

Slowly, I nodded. I couldn't understand how any of that was relevant.

"There. You see?" He hastily put down the teacup, splashing a tiny tea waterfall onto the cover of _Advanced Quantum Physics_. With his now-free hand, he made a celebratory jab in my direction. "Don't you know what that means? Why, it means your genius has reached a level almost comparable to even… _mine_.

"So you can code and you can hack. What I want to know, my girl, is this. Do you think you can go toe to toe with me?"

My hands, already balled into fists, clenched themselves so tightly they hurt. "My whole family's gone, and all you care about is who's the bigger genius?" I jumped to my feet, and out of my throat came a low animal growl. "Horrible old git!"

I was seething with anger, and besides that I was at the end of my rope waiting for Dr. Wily to show his hand. It was time to find out how desperate he was for that "favor" from me, whatever it was. Biting back tears of rage, I made for the door.

"Now, hold on," he said, with a fluster in his voice that hadn't been there before. "Where are you going?"

" _Home_. I've got three weeks to live at most, and I won't waste another minute of it on you and your big head."

"You'll go home and do what, exactly? Clean that empty house? Wait politely for the recycling center to come and collect you? Foolishness. Be sensible. Stay. Let me disable your tracker. This is the last place on earth anyone would look for you. You'll be safe here."

"You're a lying, no-good snake. And a pompous, bloated..."

"Besides, I thought you wanted to know what happened to Rock."

I blinked back tears. "I know enough. You used the promise of saving _me_ to lure him here. And then you did something terrible to him."

"But that theory doesn't quite add up even to you, does it? After all, you read my testimony in court last winter. You saw that I begged Tom to keep Rock away from me. Of course, I didn't know then that Tom was going to have his second stroke that very hour. I foresaw the major events, but didn't have a lot of the finer details, like exactly _when_ and _where_. I was too late, but you can't say I didn't try to help!

"I didn't want any harm to come to Rock, and that transcript embedded in that long-term eidetic memory of yours is irrefutable proof."

I paused in front of the door, playing back my memory of Dr. Wily's testimony. I couldn't deny there was some credence to what he had just said. But something else had captured my attention.

"You've talked, that day you were in court and now, as if you believe you can predict the future."

"I _could_ predict the future. The parts relating to my life, at least… and how your brother was going to meet his end. For thirty-seven long years, my life has played out exactly as I foresaw it would. No matter how hard I tried to steer a different course. It's been a life without free will, without being able to make a conscious choice of any significance, and it's been awful. I would have done anything to be released from it."

"You deserve it after all those good robots you corrupted, making them do things they didn't want to to do."

"Don't leave, Roll." Dr. Wily sighed. That uncharacteristic, vulnerable sigh was the closest to a _please_ that I'd ever heard from him. "After all, you're the only one who stands a chance of bringing him back."

My hand on the doorknob froze. "Bringing _who_ back?"

"Rock, of course."

I did an about-face. "Where is he, Dr. Wily?" For the first time since I'd arrived I felt he and I were now talking without games, masks, or pretense. My host's eyes on me were strangely earnest.

"Right now he's dead, in a sense. But it might not be permanent. At least, I'm not sure. He's kind of a… well… like a Schrodinger's cat. If you're as well-versed in the code as you say you are, then perhaps you could help sort that out. Undo what's been done."

In the next instant I was standing in front of him. "Explain. Fast."

"Your brother's been reprogrammed and taken through a time portal thirty-seven years into the past. All right, I'll admit I reprogrammed him. It was a sad business, and I didn't enjoy it. But I didn't do it of my own volition. I was forced to do it... by my own past self."

I looked away, distraught, not knowing which of his words I could believe. _He's mad_ , I thought. _Dr. Light thought so, and_ _Judge Kanda was right to disregard his testimony._ I was certain from the look in his eyes that he was telling the truth, or at least the truth as he saw it. But there was a chance that the truth as he saw it was nothing more than a senile old man's delusion.

"What's that face for?" he said, scowling. "You don't believe me?" And he lifted up his walker and poked me in the chest with one of the legs. "Most people don't these days, but you will. Just go down that hall and open the door on the right."

Suddenly I was reminded of the strange, unnatural light I'd seen coming from beneath the door in the hall. If Dr. Wily had planned to spring a trap on me, I thought, this would have been the time to do it. Frightened out of my wits, yet helpless to resist his challenge, I was now under his spell. I had to see what was behind the door. From the moment I'd first noticed that light, a part of me had known the answers I was looking for were there. On timid feet I crept down the hall and through the encroaching darkness. I was aware that I'd turned my back to Dr. Wily, and that I ought to be more careful, but the light was at the forefront of my mind. For the first time, I heard humming. The light source had a sound. It was both low and high at once, pulsing, turning, whirring, with a timbre that was neither natural nor mechanical. It was a sound that didn't belong on Earth.

And behind that door, once I'd opened it, was a terrifying sight to match.

"Dr. Wily! What… is _that_?"

Spanning ceiling to floor, a shining, translucent, gold-tinted elliptical, like a galaxy turned on its side, hovered in the center of Dr. Wily's bathroom, rotating slowly counter-clockwise. Immersed in its unsettling radiance, my synthetic skin seemed to be glowing. The air around me tingled as if it was charged with electricity.

"It's a time portal." Dr. Wily was now standing beside me, staring into the bathroom with weary eyes. It seemed that he was sick of looking at the thing. "Haven't you been listening?"

"And Rock went through _there_?"

"If there was anything left of his mind capable of being salvaged, there's where you'll find it." He put a wrinkled hand on my shoulder, but not to comfort me. It was a grasping, vindicated kind of hand. A hand trying to lay a claim. I shoved it away. Nevertheless, in spite of myself I was now hanging on to Dr. Wily's every word.

"I have two stories to tell you. Rather, one account from two perspectives. The first is from the point of view of my thirty-seven-year-younger self. The second is from the me of two nights ago, when the deed was done. Put those together and you'll have a fair understanding of what happened to your brother. You're not going to like it, so prepare for the worst.

"I don't know what the future holds anymore, but I can make at least one prediction. Once you've heard my stories, kid, you're going to want to go through that portal like you've never wanted anything before in your life."


End file.
